The House Always Wins
by skybound2
Summary: Dean and Sam check out a haunting on the Mississippi. This could fit in anywhere during season 2.


**Title:** The House Always Wins

**Author:** **skybound2**  
**Character(s):** Dean, Sam  
**Rating:** PG  
**Spoiler Warnings:** None. This could fit in anywhere during season 2.  
**Summary:** Dean and Sam check out a haunting on the Mississippi. Another attempt at light-hearted.  
**Author's Notes:** Written for **nativestar** over at **spn_thur_nights** back in 2007. Sorry, this is unbetaed as this was MEANT to just be a drabble. It sort of...grew. Hope you like :-)  
**Prompts:** River, Cheat, Relation  
**Disclaimers:** Playing in Kripke's universe, none of this is mine folks :-)  
**Word Count:** ~1400

**The House Always Wins**

"Come on, Sam! I'm telling you, this hunt is legit. Three separate eyewitness accounts point towards the boat being haunted. What kind of hunters would we be if we didn't at least check it out? Huh? Besides, it's on the way to Bobby's, what could it hurt to stop on by and check it out?"

"Dean, the only reason that the boat is 'on the way to Bobby's' is because it's floating on the Mississippi, it's pretty much in between _everything_ on the west coast and the east coast. It's a good day's drive **out** of our way." Dean had the petulant look of a 10-year old used to getting his way on his face as he stared at his brother.

"People have been _hurt_, Sam. The last guy ended up in the hospital for three weeks."

"The last guy was an 80-year old geriatric patient who fell down a flight of stairs and broke his hip, Dean. Not exactly the tell-tale sign of a malevolent spirit."

"But the eyewitnesses saw a 'ghostly vapor' at the **top** of those stairs." Sam couldn't help but smile at his older brother made air quotes and practically _whined_ at him. He already had the freckles, so all he needed was pudgy cheeks, and a good ol' fashioned foot stomp to complete the 'spoiled rotten child' look he was obviously aiming for.

"You can't honestly tell me that you aren't the least bit concerned?" Dean bumped his brother on the shoulder, "come on, Sam. What could it hurt, really?" Sam heaved a very put-upon sigh, before giving into Dean's request, because honestly? It d.

"Fine, but no gambling Dean. We need to stay under the radar, and you racking up a massive debt at the card tables is not exactly conducive to that."

"Sure, Sam. Not a problem." The twinkle in Dean's eye, and the slight smirk on his lips, as he gunned the engine was all the proof Sam needed that giving into Dean was a bad move on his part.

~~~\/~~~

Twelve hours later found them parked outside of one supposedly-haunted-but-probably-not riverboat casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, with Dean sporting a cat who ate the canary ear-to-ear grin. "We're just supposed to check the place out Dean. No gambling, remember?"

"Yeah, no problem." Dean's distracted answer did nothing to reassure Sam.

"You have the EMF reader on you?"

"Of course I do, Sam. What do you think I am, an amateur? You forget who the big brother is here?"

"Depends. 'cause if we're judging 'big' by either height or maturity, I've got you beat on both counts."

"Ha, ha, Sam."

"Just saying, _big_ brother."

A sweep of the bottom four levels took the brothers two hours, and turned up nothing on the EMF. A brief argument about their next course of action resulted in the two splitting up, with Dean off to "interview" the boat employees, and Sam scanning the rest of the levels for any signs of a manifestation. Which he figured was practically pointless, but did it anyway, just in case.

So he was suitably surprised when a scan of the door to one of the cabins on the second deck was off the charts. "Damn. Dean was right. I might never hear the end of this."

Sam really had no business being as surprised as he was when he found his brother at one of the blackjack tables. The really surprising thing though, was just how _well_ Dean appeared to be doing, if the large stack of chips in front of him was anything to go on. Well, that and the kid-in-a-candy-store grin on his face.

"Sammy! Check big brother out, I'm on a roll here!"

"Yeah, I can see that. Come on. We got to go."

Dean looked honestly perplexed when he looked at Sam, before saying "Hit me."

"What?!"

"Not you, him." Dean gestured towards the dealer, who flopped over the next card in front of Dean. "Ha! See, Sammy. Twenty-one. Told you I'm on a roll."

"Yeah, well. That...phone call, we were waiting for? Just came through. We need to go."

"Phone call? What the – Oh, really? Huh. Didn't see that one coming."

Sam arched an eyebrow at his brother, but kept quiet as he waited for Dean to collect his winnings and fall into step beside him.

"Second deck, one of the interior rooms."

"Is it occupied?"

"Looks like. Might take a bit of maneuvering to get in there, no window or porthole, or whatever. This place has Wi-Fi though, I'd like a place to sit and do a bit of research, find out what, or who, we're dealing with."

Dean claps a hand on his brother's shoulder, "Well, then it's a good thing I got us a comped room, isn't it?" He flashes a voucher at his brother, smirk firmly planted on his face.

"Wha-how?"

"Well, there was this dealer, and she, she had the most-"

"You know what, nevermind, I don't want to know."

"You're probably right about that one, Bro. Come on, let's go get ourselves a room."

~~~\/~~~

Adding to the list of things that Sam really doesn't want to know, is what exactly it was that his brother told the receptionist at the front desk when he was sweet talking her into giving them the room adjacent to the one with the high EMF readings. Especially after he gestures towards Sam, and she pauses to gives him more just a passing glance, and a little wave of her hand, which he half-heartedly returns.

A few more moments pass before Dean is shoving away from the counter, waving the keycard in one hand, "got us our room." He shoves a piece of paper in Sam's hand, smiling as he walks down the corridor.

"What? You got me her number?"

"Not exactly. Look closer."

"Dean! Who the hell is Bryan, and why do I have his number?"

"Her brother."

Sam really wishes he was surprised.

After they've settled in their room, Dean begs off to go try his hand at poker this time. Edging on midnight, Sam's found three possible leads for a haunting. And a half-dozen or so reports of minor accidents happening in the vicinity of the room next door. No deaths though, which is always a plus. The obits were even kind enough to list the cemeteries they were all buried at, making this potentially one of the easiest hunts Sam can remember in recent times. So, it's been a somewhat productive night for Sam at least.

Which is precisely when Dean comes stumbling into the room with a hasty, "we gotta go" tossing their few scattered belongings into their duffels. "I've bought us about ten minutes, but that's it."

Sam tosses his computer into it's bag, and grabs the rest of his things, "Bought us? Dean, whatever the hell is going on, I'm fairly certain you're the reason we're leaving right now."

"Well, that's beside the point, Sam."

"And the point is?"

"Are you thick in the head? That we gotta go."

As they weave out of the corridors and make their way through to the outside deck, Sam manages to wrangle an actual answer out of his brother regarding just why their running out of a perfectly good _free_ hotel room in the early hours of the night.

"Cheating, Dean? What the hell, man? What part of low-profile do you not understand?"

"You know, I always had a little trouble with my reading comprehension skills, Sam. So why don't you enlighten me."

"We're related. It's amazing."

"And lucky for you, or you'd have been dead a dozen times over by now."

Sam can't help smiling at his brother, "Good Point." Whatever Dean did to 'buy them time,' Sam figures it must of worked, because they make it out to the dock, and back to the car without incident.

"So, did you find out everything we need to take care of the spook?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Good, then what are we waiting for?" They toss their duffels into the trunk of the Impala, Dean running a hand loving across her exterior before climbing into the drivers seat. "We got bones to burn, spirits to put to rest, and" Dean reaches into his jacket pocket as he carefully maneuvers the car out of the lot, tossing a clean pile of wrapped bills onto the seat between them "and, a date with horse named Lucky."

"_Dean_."

"_Sam_."

"No cheating this time?"

Dean just smirks, "deal."

~End


End file.
